House of Black
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was one of the largest, oldest, and wealthiest pure-blooded wizarding families in Britain, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Many wizarding families in Britain are distantly related to the House of Black. Like the Malfoy and Lestrange families, the House of Black is synonymous with elevated status and wealth. The Black family tree is displayed in the drawing room of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place in London, England on an intricate tapestry, as an ornate mural. It starts in the Middle Ages and shows the dominant line of the family up to the present day. By the late twentieth century, the House of Black had become almost extinct. The male line continued in Violet Black and her four children through the Malfoy family, as well her in her siblings Gaia and Regulus III. The female line continued through the Malfoy family, Teddy Lupin and through Delphini who was Bellatrix's illegitimate daughter. By then the Black family was no longer pureblooded as the only pureblooded member, Amber Black was unable to have children. The heirs, Teddy Lupin, Delphini, Vega Malfoy, Olive Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy and Cassie Malfoy were all Half-bloods, having at least one Half-blood parent. Family history Early history The Black family traces its origin back to the Middle Ages. They claim to have entirely magical ancestry, but as Sirius Black informed his godson Harry Potter, no true pure-blood families existed by the twentieth century. The pure-blood families like the Blacks simply removed Muggles and Squibs from their family trees. The Blacks place a great importance on blood purity, considering themselves akin to royalty in the wizarding world and disdaining Muggles, Squibs, blood traitors, and Muggle-borns. The family motto, which can be found on the family crest, is Toujours Pur, which means "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously. Recent history Because of their views, a large number of the Black family members practised the Dark Arts and supported Lord Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. A few Blacks even became Death Eaters, while many others never took the Dark Mark but believed in the "purification" of the wizarding world nevertheless. A few members of the family, however, disagreed with the traditional views of their family; Sirius Black, for example, joined the Order of the Phoenix and married a Muggle-born, as did Andromeda Tonks. Cassie Black and Nymphadora Tonks, fought for the Order. Lyra Black tried to get into the Order, but was unable to. She had a child with a werewolf. She fought on the side of the Order during the Second Wizarding War. Sirius, Andromeda's daughter and Lyra's daughter, were murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), Sirius's cousin and Andromeda and Lyra's sister, in battle. Supportive of Voldemort at first, the family loyalists who did not become Death Eaters got cold feet when they saw the levels he would go to achieve his goals. Their hatred towards Muggles is such that some members who are not outright Death Eaters would go to lengths to persecute them, such as Araminta Meliflua trying to pass a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal. However, even those who originally supported Voldemort's actions to purge the Muggles got cold feet when they saw what he was willing to do for power. With Sirius's death, the pureblooded male line of the Black family ended, but continued in his Half-blood children Violet, Gaia and Regulus III. The female line continues through the descendants of his cousins Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks, Narcissa Malfoy and Lyra Black, his second cousin, once removed, Arthur Weasley, the Burke family, the Crouches, the Longbottoms and the Potter family. Harry is shocked to find Sirius is related to the Malfoys, but Sirius explains all pure-blood families are interlinked somehow. Sirius is, in fact, related to Molly and Arthur Weasley. Family members Main family Related by marriage Distant relatives Blasted of the tapestry The original tree described from Grimmauld Place was subject to some magical interference. According to Sirius Black, his mother Walburga blasted names of "blood traitors" off the tapestry without hesitation. The Black family motto of Toujours Pur ("always pure") was followed assiduously by family members; any who disagreed with the notion of blood purity or married Muggles or people of different blood statuses were disowned and blasted off the family tree, as were any Squibs. Thus, family members that remain on the tapestry can be assumed to have married fellow ("respectable") pure-bloods. Some even married their own cousins; Orion Walburga Black, for instance, were second cousins. Generations of this practice resulted in Inbreeding, which in turn has caused problems such as low fertility and emotional instability. There was one case in which a Black wasn't disowned for betraying the family. Lyra Black had planend to run away with Remus Lupin, a Half-blood werewolf, but was unable to when she discovered being pregnant. She was married to Tom Avery quickly and the child was always considered his. Thus the Blacks are related to the Max, Blishwick, Flint, Hitchens, Gamp, Bulstrode, Burke, Yaxley, Macmillan, Crabbe, Potter, Peverell, Gaunt, Longbottom, Fortescue, Weasley, Delacour, Johnson, Granger, Crouch, Prewett, Rosier, Lestrange, Evans, Meliflua, Tonks, Malfoy, and Lupin families (albert most of them distantly) but are related to all wizarding familie as all families were once pureblood and all pureblood families are related. Also, Muggle-born people are descendants of Squibs who are born into either a pureblood or Half-blood family (which is part pureblood). Therefore, all wizarding families (and some Muggle ones) are related to the House of Black. Physical appearances The Blacks were commonly described as having "great good looks" ''and a certain aristocratic elegance that reflected upon their personalities, for they considered themselves ''"practically royal". The traditional look for the majority of the Black family is dark hair and dark eyes, though there were some exceptions: Sirius Black III was grey-eyed, Andromeda Tonks née Black had light brown hair, and Narcissa Malfoy née Black and Lyra Black was blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Despite these differences, each and every one of these four cousins were still noted to be a beauty in their own right, being of tall and elegant stature, with attractive features. Besides this, even after their incarceration in Azkaban and subsequent escape, Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius were both described to have retained vestiges of these "great good looks", despite losing much of it in the depression of the prison. Wealth The Black family, as with many other pure-blood wizarding families like the Malfoys and the Potter family, is considered to be very wealthy. This may be one of the reasons why the members of this family acted somewhat arrogantly. In 1993, Sirius Black III used money from Vault 711 to pay for Violet Willis' and Harry Potter's Firebolts. This vault may have been property of the Blacks, since Sirius may have inherited this vault after his mother's death. However, he may have acquired it after being disowned, using the money given to him by his Uncle Alphard. After Sirius died in 1996, his only daughter Violet Willis inherited all of Sirius Black's properties, including his house, his house-elf and his vault, which still contained "a reasonable amount of gold". Given its depth, it is likely a high-security vault.